Where Can Water Go? The Promise of Future Bottled Water Offerings

An ever increasing number of value-added bottled waters are flooding the U.S. market. Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) has identified 11 sectors of the overall bottled water market. Everything from protein waters to floral waters and spice waters have entered the market in recent years with more water concepts to follow. These new products all offer either functional or health and wellness benefits. But is there a place for a dearth of water in an already crowded market?

“In aggregate, these upstart segments totaled more than $100 million wholesale sales in 2019 and grew by more than 30%, and they are poised to have healthy growth over the next four years, though some are likely to sputter,” BMC states in their report. Plant waters are the biggest of the bunch accounting for about two thirds of sales of these new segments. Most of the other segments are small - under $10 million wholesale. These new segments join traditional value added water segments: enhanced, flavored, essence and alkaline waters. In no particular order, here are the 11 sub-categories of hr bottled water market that will show growth:

Plant Waters (Excluding coconut water)

Protein Waters

Detox Waters

Fiber Water

Probiotic Waters

Wine Waters (Non-alcoholic)

Flower/Floral Waters

Spice (Herbal) Waters

Weight Management Waters/Keto Water

Collagen (Beauty) Waters

Rain Waters

In predicting future growth through 2023, BMC states that every category will make gains, but the weakest are predicted to be rain waters, and floral waters, showing growth in single digits, but growth nonetheless. The most promising? Wine water with projected growth of 38%, probiotic waters (26%) and fiber waters with growth of 34%.

“Beverage marketers seeking to enter the water category have found traditional bottled water nearly impenetrable because it is dominated by low cost offerings from established companies. They’ve opted to enter the less price sensitive value-added water segment that is seemingly ripe for innovation and segmentation,” BMC says. These new water brands and segments may vary but have a number of things in common: premium pricing, functional or wellness attributes, natural ingredients, and use of water as a platform for innovation. That so many new waters are coming on-line only shows there is nothing to stop creativity and market share for bottled water.